The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 28, 2004
Filed:
Nov. 28, 2001
David R. Greenberg, White Plains, NY (US);
Hariklia Deligianni, Edgewater, NJ (US);
Robert A. Groves, Highland, NY (US);
Christopher V. Jahnes, Upper Saddle River, NJ (US);
Jennifer L. Lund, Amawalk, NY (US);
Katherine L. Saenger, Ossining, NY (US);
Richard P. Volant, New Fairfield, CT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A micro-electro mechanical switch having a restoring force sufficiently large to overcome stiction is described. The switch is provided with a deflectable conductive beam and multiple electrodes coated with an elastically deformable conductive layer. A restoring force which is initially generated by a single spring constant k upon the application of a control voltage between the deflectable beam and a control electrode coplanar to the contact electrodes is supplemented by adding to k additional spring constants k , . . . , kn provided by the deformable layers, once the switch nears closure and the layers compress. In another embodiment, deformable, spring-like elements are used in lieu of the deformable layers. In an additional embodiment, the compressible layers or deformable spring-like elements are affixed to the deflecting beam facing the switch electrodes